Identification device and process for making same



Jan. 24, 1928. 1,656,928

w. H. WHEELER IDENTIFICATION DEVICE AND PROCESS lfQR MAKING SAME Original Filed March 6, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTUH Willie/villi. Whee Z6? BY g Y nrromvsr Jan. 24, 1928. 1,656,928

w. H. WHEELER IDENTIFICATION DEVICE AND PROCESS FOR MAKING SAME Original Filed Marchfi, 1925 2 Sheet-Sheet 2 INVENTOR jg WzLLlimJi.W/zeler ATTORNEY fit all

Patented Jan. 2 1, lQZd.

. retain UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

wiLLiAr/r H. VTHEELER, or new "roan, n. Y., assienon 'IO rnnco nuivnmn PLATE oonronarron, or new roan, n. a oonronnrron or DELAWARE.

IDENTIFICATION DEVICE AND PROCESS FOR MAKING SAME.

Application filed March 6, 1925, Serial No. 13,491. Renewed June 14, 1927.

This invention relates to an improved identification device and process for making the same which is particularly adapted for the identification of automobiles, although it is not limited to such use.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method by which identification plates can be made quickly and cheaply in large quantities.

A further object is to produce an identilication plate which cannot be altered without disclosing the fact that it has been tamper-ed with and which cannot be duplicated or counterteited by an unauthorized person, except at such expense as would be prohibitive or by thouse oi machinery and equipment involving considerable initial expense and a plant or establishment that would betray a couuterteiter;

it is a further object of my invention to provide a plate in which one portion of the indicia is represented in a metal of one color and another portion in a metal of another color, while a third portion is superposed upon one or both of the other two portions.

A still further object is to so form part of indicia that they will be defined by means of marginal depressions.

When two embossing operations are performed on the same plate one embossed design being superposed upon another, it commonly occurs that the. first embossed design is so completely flattened or is reduced to so low a relief by the second embossing opera tion as to be practically obliterated. It is therefore an object t my invention to provide a process whereby a design produced by one embossing operation will not be lost by a superposed design applied by a second embossing.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts as will be more fully hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a fragment of one of my identification devices representing its a-ppea'ance after being subjected to the lirst step of my process;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Figs. 8 and l represent the appearance of the identification plates after having been subjected to another step of my process, Fig. 3 representing an enlar ed sectional View taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. l, and Fig. l being a plan view of a fragment of the plate;

Figs. and 6 represent the appearanceot my plate after being subjected to ai'urther step of my process, Fig. 5 being an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 55, and Fig. 6 being a plan view of a fragment of the identification plate Figs. 7 and 8 are views of my plate after being subjected to a still further step of my process, Fig. 7 being an enlarged cross-section of a fragment of a. plate shown. in perspective, the sectionbeing taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 8, and Fig. Sbeing a plan view of a fragment of the plate;

Figs. 9 and 10 are views of the completed identification plate,v Fig. 9 being an enlarged cross-section of a fragment of the plate shown in perspective, the section being taken on line 99 of FiglO, and Fig. 10 being a plan view of afragment of the. plate.

The body of my identification device consists of a plate formed of two metals of contrasting color. I have found that a base of nickel with a layer of copper applied to the upper face thereof gives very satisfactory results, but it will be clear that my process is not confined to these metals. My process may be satisfactorily used with a wide variety of other combinations such as brass and copper, copper and iron, etc. I propose to use for the identification indicia a name, mark or design, representing the make or model of the car, (hereafter termed the make indicia) and also a number designating the particular car of said make or model to which the plate is attached, (hereafter termed the number indicia).

The first step or my process is to. einboss upon the plate, a marginal frame and the number indicia. In order to increase the difficulty of altering or counterfeiting a plate, the numbers are applied in Arabic numerals and the name of each numeral is spelled out in alphabetical characters, this name, preferably, being placed above and below each Arabic numeral.

Figs. 1 and 2 illust ate. the plate after it has passed through the first step of my process. The body of the plate is indicated by the numeral 10 which for purposes of illustration we shall assume is composed of .till

nickel, while SllPQl'lJOSCtl on this body a layer 11 which for purposes of illustration we shall assume, is a layer of copper. In the first embossing operation, the marginal frame 12 is struck up from the background. also the Arabic i'iumerals 123 and the spelled out numbers 14-.

it will be observed from an inspection of Fig. .2, that the parts 12, 12-; and 14: stand out from the body of the plate, but that the numerals 13 and marginal :lrame 12 stand higher than the characters 14;.

After the plate has been embossed, the second step is to anneal it so that it will be in condition for a second embossing operation to be descriljied later on. This step may be omitted if certain soft metals are employed, but it, the body of the plate of nickel, it is highly important that the plate be annealed alter the .iirst embossing operation. The third step of my process to apply to the embossed lace ol the plate a liquid material which will harden quickly and torm a hard but not too brittle coating 15 over the embossing. This material, however, must be readily soluble so that it can he ren'loved easily in a later step of my process. It is of importance in my process that the material applied to the surface of the plate, be ol such viscosity as to form a fairly thick layer and that it possess SHlllUlQI'll] surface tension to till up and form rounded lillets in the re-entrant corners of the embossing. I have found a very satis'l'aetory material for the purpose, to con. .t of a solution Oili silirate of soda. Fig. 3) illustrates the plate in section after a layer 15 ol silicate of soda has been applied thereto. showing fillets 1e filling the re-entrant angles of the embossed frame and indieia.

The next step of my process to grind or cut oil the embossed .tace ot' the plate to such a depth as to remove the copper layer 11 from the tran'ie 19 and munbers 1S, exposing the nickel body 10 without, however, removing the copper from the characters 1 1-. This result is shown in Fig. 5. It is desirable that the grinding be carried deep enough to ren'iove the entire coating of silicate of soda from the surlace of the characters 1-1. shown in Fig. (l, the plate now has the ap pearance of a copper lgiackg round with a marginal frame 12 oi nickel and with the Arabic numerals 13 standing out in the white metal of the nickel and thereby contrasting: sharply with the copper showing through the layer at sili ate oli soda. All the indicia stand out partly in relief from the copper lmckgrouml oi the plate. It will be observed that the indieia and the inner margin of frame 12 are outlined by fillets 16 of silicate of soda and hence the thickness of the silicate o1 soda along the margins oi all indieiais greater than throughout the rest of the plate.

The next step oil my process is to emho" the plate with the make indicia; that is a name or design or both. indicating the model or make oi car. This step is illustrated in l tes. T and 8. wherein the raised cluiracters 1T indicate the name oi? the car and the raised circle 18 and bar '15) represent a suitable design. In this embossing operation. not only are the name and design raised above the rest of the plate, but the lillets it) serve to depress the metal along the margins of the numerals l3 and characters ll, and the inner margin of frame 152 as shown clearly in the perspective sectional view oi Fig. 7. Thus while the. second embossing operation may flatten out the pa rts that were struck up by the lirst operation or reduce them to a very low relief, they are not ohliterated but are distinguishable by the out-- lining depressions produced by the fillets lti.

:lt i dci-airable that the die with "which the second embossing operation is performed be also l'ormcd to include a marginal 'lramc. co incidine with that with which the [rame if! was 'lorn'icd in the lirst embossingoperation. so that on the second embossing (nieration the frame 12 will stand up on the same level as. or it desired, even higher than the make indicia.

The next step of the ynrocess is to remove the coating 15 including the lillcts ll"), which may be readily done. by washing the plate in warm water. Figure .l illustrates the ap- 'icarancc ol' the plate after this has been done. The nmnber indlcia ii-l show up clearly in contrast with the rest ol the plate, because they are at nickel and oil a dillerent color from the rest of the surface, and th same is true ol. the marginal frame 12 which is also o'li' nickel. The make indicia. inclmh in the name of the car and a suitable design shows clearly because it is elnboss-aed over the rest oi the indicia and stands out in robot. llowover. the number indicia l2} do not dcpend entirely upon dill'ercncc ol color to make them stand forth clearly from the back ground: for they are clearly delin iated by depressions 2o produced alone the margins oi the numerals by the fillets lb which were present during the second embosaing oprration. The same thing is true oi the charactcrs H; which stand forth with poi-lent legibility. despite the Fact that there is no color contrast between them and the background or the embossed make indicia super posed upon them. .llach character l-lis out lined by a depression ill) as clearly shown in Fig. 9. TL will he understood oi? course. that while this depression is sharply dclined at the very edge of the numeral or letter it our-- rounds. the opposite margin of the depression will be rounded and will merge without any sharp definition into the background so that there is no double line etl'ect surrounding the character or numeral. The lines 21 Ill lltl

shown in Fig. 9 areintroduced, merely for clearness oft illustration and not to denote a sharp corner.

lln ordercto bring outmore strongly the contrast between the Arabic numerals. and the rest of the plate so that the number of the car may always. be read easily, the plate may now he treated to oxidize the copper surface without discoloring the nickel surfaces. By this operation, the nickel frame 12 and the Arabic numerals 13 are caused to stand out in bright contrast with the rich brown or black surface of the rest of the plate It desirable the nickel surface may be oxidized or otherwise colored while the copper is left in its natural color,

lVhile I mention silicate of soda as, a. suitable material for coating the plate and prodi'icing marginal fillets, I do not wish to confine myself toithe use of this material alone, for it will be evident that many other materials might be used so long as they fill the requirements of having sutlicient surface tension to produce substantial fillets'in the reentrantangles of the plate, of solidifying quickly when applied, of not being so brittle as to chip or spall, or so soft as to flow too freely when subjected to the second embossing operation, It is also desirable that the material be readily soluble or otherwise removable after the make indicia has beenembossed on the plate. However, it is not essential that the coating material be removed from the plate after the second embossing operation. 1 he coating may remain as a periuaueut part oi: the plate, partlcularly it a trans iarent coating material be usethsuch as silicate of soda through whichthe number indicia may be seen to stand inrelief from the background.

It should be noted that the number indicia l3 and 14; stand in low relief above the background because the layer of silicate of soda covering the background holds the latter to a lower level than the surface of the number indicia during the second embossing operation. Hence, I do not rely upon the depressions 20 alone to define the number indicia but preserve said indicia in low relief as contrasted with the high relief ofthe make indicia. It desirable, the grinding oporation need not be carried far enough to remove the coating from the characters 14; in which case, said characterswill not appear in relief inthe finished plate but will be defined solely by the depressions 20 outlining said characters.

- Various slight changes may bemade in, the steps of my process and the general form and arrangement of the parts described without departing from the invention, and hence I do not wishto limit myself to the precise details set forth, butshall consider myself at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fall fairly within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim: a i

. 1. A process of producingsuperposeddesigns upon a base which consists in (1 embossing onedesign upon a base, covering the embossed surface with a coating, and (3) emb s ng sign.

2. A process of producing superposed designs upon a base which consists in (l) embossing one desi n upon a base, (2) covera second design over the first deing the embossed surface with a transparent.

,re-ent 'ant corners oi the embossingwith a filler, (3) embossing a second design oyer the first design, and l) removing the filler.

.5. A process of producing superposed designs upon a base which consists in (1) cmbossing a design on the base, (2) covering the. embossed surface with a coating, (3)

embossing a second design over the first design, and (4:) removing the coating.

6. A process of producing superposed designs upon a plate which consists in (1) cm hossing a design on the plate, (2) coating tllt,ORIbOSSEBd-SUL'TEHCQ with a liquid filler, (3) permitting the filler to solidify, (4t) embossing a second design over the coated first design, and (5) dissolving the filler.

7. A process of producing superposed designs upon a plate which consists in (l) embossing a design on the plate, (2) coating the embossed surface with a solution of sodium silicate, (3) permitting the coating of sodium silicate to harden, (at) embossing a second design over the coated first design, and (5) removing the coating by dissolving the sodium silicate in water.

8. A process of producing superposed'designs upon aplate having a body of one metal and afacing of another metal, which process consists in (1) embossing a design on a face of the plate, (2) filling re-entrant corners of the embossing with a filler, (3) removing the facing metal from parts ot the design that are in relief to expose the body metal, (4) embossing a second design over the first, and (5) removing the filler.

9. A process of producing superposed designs upon a plate having a body of one metal and a facing of another metal, which process consists in embossing a design on the face of the plate, the embossing be too till

ing struck up to a high relief and a low relief, (2) filling the re-entrantcorners of the embossing with a tiller, (3) removing the facing metal from parts of the design which are in high relief, embossing a second design over the first, and (5) removing the filler.

10. A. ln'ocess of producing superposed designs upon a plate having a body of one metal and a facing of another metal, which process consists in (l) eml'iossing a design on the face of the plate. with certain. parts of the design in highv relief and other parts in low relief, (2) coating the embossed face of the plate with av tiller, (El) removing the :laoing metal from the parts in high relief, t) embossing a second design over the first, and removing the liller.

11. A process of producing superposed designs on a plate eonuiosed of a plurality of laminae o f dillerent metals which consists in embossing a design on the face of the plate, the surface of the en'ihossing being struck up to a plurality of levels, coating the embossed surface with a tiller, (3) removing the surface metal from one level of the embossing to expose, a different metal lying thereunder, embossing a second design over the lirst, and removing the tiller.

12. A process of manufacturing an identi tieation device in which a bi-metallie plate having a body of one metal and a facing of another metal is employed, which procc consists in embossinga design on the face of the plate, (2) annealing the plate, (3) filling the rc-entrant corners of the embossing with a filler, removing the facing metal from parts of the design standing in relief to expose the hotly metal, emboss ing a. second design over the first, and (6) removing the tiller.

13. A process of manufacturing an identification device in which a bi-metallio plate is employed, which process consists in (l) embossing a design on the face of the plate, certain parts of the design being struck up to a higher level than other parts. annealing the plate, (3) coating the plate with a tiller, (4) removing one lamina of metal from the higher level of the embossing to expose the other lamina, embossing a second design over the lirst, and (ti) removing the tiller.

ll. A process of numufacturing an identification device in which a bi-metallic plate formed with a body of one metal and a facing of another metal is employed, which process consists in (l) embossing a design on the face of the plate, certain parts of the design being struck up to a higher level than other parts, (2) annealing the plate, (3) coating the plate with a tiller, (4t) removing the facing metal from the higher levels of the embossing to expose the body meta-1,

(5) embossing a seclind design over the lllst, (6) removing the filler, and (T) oxidizing the facing metal of the plate.

15. A process of manufaetiiring an idea-- tification device in which a hi-metallic plate formed with a body of one metal and a facing of another metal is employed, which process consists in (l) embossing a design on the face of the plate, certain parts of the design being struck up to a higher level than other parts, (2) annealing the plate, ll coating the plate with a tiller, (fl) removing, the facing metal from the higher levels of the embossing to expose the lataly metal, (5) embossing a second design over the first, l lll removing the tiller, and (T) oxidizing one of the metals showing on the face of the plate.

16. As a new article of mamrlacture, an identification plate inchnliug a surface r playing a background, identifying indicia embossed upon the background, and an embossed design superposed upon the identi t' ying indicia and the ljiackground.

17. As a. new article of manul'iurture, an identil'lcatirm plate including a. surface displaying a background, identifying indicia embossed upon the hzuikgrmuul in low relief and an embossed design in high relief superposed upon the identifying indicia and the background.

18. its a new article of manufacture, an identification plate including a surface displaying a background, identifying indicin defined from the background by marginal depressions outlining said indicia, and. an embossed design superposed upon the indicia and the background.

19. As a new article of manui'acture, an identification plate including a surface displaying a background, identifying indicia inlaid and embossed in low relief on the background, and an embossed dos an in high relief superposed upon the identifying indicia and the background.

20. As a new article of manufacture, an

identilication plate inchnliug a surl'ar dis playing hackgrouml, and three t.'l2l. ..(.m of

identifying indicia embossed thereon. one class appearing in the metal of the back ground, another class appearing in a coin twisting metal, and a third class superposed upon the other two classes.

ill. As a new article ol manufacture, an identitioatio'n plate including a surface displaying a luiekground. and three classes of identi ying indicia emlmssed thereon, one class being embossed in low relief, another class also embossed in low relief but displaying another metal, and a third class superposed ou the first two classes and emlmssed in high relief.

5 As a new article of manufacture. an it'lentilication plate imcludiug a lull-face dis playing a background, and three classes of Hill identifying indicia embossed thereon, one class being embossed in low relief, another class also embossed in low relief but displaying another metal, and a third class superposed on the first two classes and embossed in high relief, the plate being formed With depressions outlining the indicia of the first and second classes.

23. As a new article of manufacture, an-

identification plate including a surface displaying a background, and three classes of identifying indicia embossed thereon, one class being embossed in low relief, another class also embossed in low relief but displaying another metal, and a third class superposed on the first two classes and embossed in high relief, the plate being formed with depressions outlining the indicia of the firs and second classes, the entire face of the plate with the exception of thatforming the second class of indicia being oxidized.

24. As a new article of manufacture, an identification plate including a surface displaying a background, and three classes of identifying indicia embossed thereon, one

class being embossed in low relief, another class also embossed in low relief but displaying another metal, and a third class superposed on the first two classes and embossed in high relief, the plate being formed with depressions outlining the indicia of the first and second classes, one of the metals displayed on the face of the plate being oxidized.

'25. In a process of producing superposed designs upon a base, the steps which include embossing adesign upon a base, embossing a second design over the first design, and treating the embossed design after the first embossing to prevent obliteration of the design by the second embossing.

26. In a process of producing superposed designs upon a base, the steps which consist in subjecting the base to a plurality of embossings, and treating the embossed surface of the base between each pair of embossings to prevent obliteration of a design formed by one embossing by the next succeeding embossing.

VVILLIABLI H. WHEELEl1 

